Amongst the blur of blogs tagged with keywords like “retro,” “nostalgia industry,” and “vinyl comeback”,
the cleverly titled Retro Active Critiques caught my attention. Laden with photographs and video clips of
old school acts and classic films, it looked promising. I quickly dived into
the first post, “Invigorating Effect of a Relentless Beat” (again, quite
favorably named for my purposes), which speaks articulately about the author’s
connection to music with repetitive guitar riffs or Motorik sounds common in
80’s productions. She illustrates the magnetism of driving pulse-like rhythms by
linking us to video clips of New Order’s “Temptation” and Don Henley’s “Boys of
Summer,” to name a few. But she takes the blog from mere fansite to a study in the meta-context by also considering the
reasoning behind her affection for this sound. She tags Oliver Sack’s Musicophilia, bringing focus to the
“neurological elements at play in the very personalized ways we hear and
respond to music.”
I didn’t have to read any
further than this post to conclude that the blog belongs to an introspective (retrospective?) aficionado of retro
culture. And indeed, Klara Tavakoli is both an admirer and regenerator of past
cultural phenomenon. Klara is an amateur blogger who is in it simply for the
fun, as I gathered from the low popularity of the blog (an Alexa rank in the
twenty-seven-millions) and frequency of her posts (she averaged around one post
per week in the past year, topping out at three times a week in her most
ambitious month in 2009). But she sparked my interest because she proves to be
more perceptive than the everyday blogger. She understands the deeper meaning
behind retro presence in contemporary culture as evidenced by her blog’s
description: “Because current is obsolete – And modern is yesterday, or
tomorrow.” Retro Active Critiques is
by no means a scholarly or professional source, but merely a nostalgic eye
toward the past that exists to share what it sees with an audience that boasts
the same passion. While she does
incorporate some academic sources, she maintains a conversational tone,
bringing her closer to her audience. I aim for a similar relationship with my
audience. For example, in one of my favorite posts of hers titled
“Retrospective: How Technology Tore the Roof of My Cozy 1960’s Fort,” she
carefully describes the circumstance under which she became acquainted with the
1960’s as an escape from her own reality. She effectively appeals to pathos
when she writes,
“The time I dedicated to
individuals found through movies, books and films could have been spent instead
on cultivating actual friendships…Fortunately, I had a like-minded boyfriend
for a good part of my early 20's and didn't have to be completely alone in my
odd and potentially lonely fantasy.”
Although I highlighted two
of her stronger posts, some of the other ones are somewhat lacking and really
only skim the surface of the topic. I strive to be as thorough as possible,
examining each facet of my posts with adequate detail. Also, whereas Klara
doesn’t favor any particular medium, focusing on all things vintage, I will
narrow my concentration to music. I will discuss music’s play on nostalgia and
the prevailing retro industry in a credible manner while still retaining
interest and readership by using an anecdotal and easy to follow style similar
to Klara’s.
“Retro Active Critiques” is
an antiquarian shrine to cultural memory, and it has definitely won a new
follower.
